INDIA RISES AGAIN

INDIA RISES AGAIN Building A New India O VER the past several centuries, India has played an epochmaking role, and now, in the twenty-first century, history is repeating itself with India reviving its role once again. Nature itself, by locating the world’s highest mountain in India, has symbolically indicated that this land is destined to play a supreme role in human history. Now, it has become abundantly clear that India has proved competent to play such a role. A historical example which highlights this fact is that of Indian numerals. Brahmagupta (598-670 CE), who was born in Multan, formerly a part of India, was the first person to develop a numerical method using the power of zero, which he presented in his Sanskrit treatise, Brahmasphutasiddhanta (The Extensive Treatise of Brahma). This treatise was translated into Arabic between 796 and 806 CE. Thus, the Indian numeric system first entered Baghdad, then spread to Spain, Italy, France, England and Germany. A Western scholar Wilfrid Blunt writes: “Nothing so delayed the advance of science in the West as the clumsiness of the Roman numerals. Had the Indian numerals, which had reached Baghdad from India towards the end of the eighth century, been soon afterwards introduced into and adopted by Western Europe as a whole, much of the scientific progress which we associate with the Renaissance in Italy might have been achieved several centuries earlier.” As early as the seventh century an Indian mind was able to make a contribution to history that paved the way for the further advancement of science. European colonialism—begun in the sixteenth century—culminated in the twentieth century in an empire, with India as its jewel. After the British colonialists had ruled India for about two hundred years, the Indian freedom struggle passed through various stages until 1920. Then its leadership was assumed by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who declared that India’s struggle would be purely non-violent. Many doubted the feasibility of gaining freedom through peaceful or non-violent methods. Mahatma Gandhi who had studied modern advancements in human civilization, developed his own philosophy No emotional speech can serve as a substitute for wise guidance. No mere talk of activism can be an alternative to realistic planning.